


Undercity

by verdenal



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-08
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-01-07 23:45:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1125810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verdenal/pseuds/verdenal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Illegal boxing AU. Retired boxer Erwin "The Commander" Smith is drawn to an illegal boxing ring by the chance to fight The Underground's Strongest. He gets more than he bargained for, both from Levi and the ruthless, mysterious gang running the show: the Titans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Nicknames/titles from and Inspired by emperorofruin's awesome [art!](http://emperorofruin.tumblr.com/post/69078058374/more-illegal-boxing-au-the-undergrounds)

Erwin is bored. That’s an understatement; this isn’t boredom, it’s ennui. This, at least, is Erwin’s excuse for turning to Hanji for help.

“Of course you’re bored,” she tells him, punctuating her statement with a jab of her fork. “You’re a personal trainer.”

“It’s not a bad job,” Erwin protests.

“But it’s not exactly bare-knuckle boxing, is it?” Hanji’s wearing the expression she always has when she knows she’s right. Erwin has seen it more than he cares to admit.

“No, it isn’t,” he sighs.

“Lucky for you, I have just the thing. Meet me here,” Hanji scribbles something on the corner of her napkin and shoves it across the table, “at eight thirty. Be discrete.”

-

Erwin assumes “discrete” means not driving, so he takes the train out to the address Hanji gave him: an intersection in one of the old industrial neighborhoods to the west of downtown. She’s there when he walks up, cheeks pinked by the cold air.

“Took you long enough,” she says.

“There was some sort of delay. We were stuck on the tracks for at least ten minutes.”

“I love public transit.” She’s completely genuine, too. “Let’s get going. We still have a couple of blocks to go and it starts soon.”

Erwin doesn’t say anything as they walk under the flickering streetlights. He can see where they’re headed: it’s an old factory building. There are no lights on inside, but all the action is probably in the basement. Fights can get noisy, and the kind of people who run these things definitely don’t want police attention.

Hanji leads him to the back of the building, where a tall, heavyset man waits by the door. Hanji says something to him and he waves them in. As they pass, Erwin takes his measure. He’s big, but looks slow and stupid. Erwin could take him. His hands itch with it.

“You’re really going to like this,” Hanji says as they join the crowd thronged around the ring. “This is a great matchup.”

Erwin raises an eyebrow but doesn’t argue. In one corner is a young blond man, shorter than Ewrin but thicker. He’s bouncing on the balls of his feet and speaking rapidly to a tall, dark man who must be his friend, judging by the fond, worried expression on his face. In the other is a short, dark-haired man. A strawberry blonde woman is whispering something in his ear. She’s even smaller than he is. Erwin turns to Hanji to ask what exactly is going on, but she places a finger on his lips before he can start.

“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we will witness a historic matchup!” the announcer booms. “The Armored Wonder versus The Underground’s Strongest!”

“Which one is which?” Erwin whispers.

“You’ll figure it out,” Hanji tells him, and grins.

Erwin certainly does. The blond kid—the Armored Wonder—is good, and he’s earned his nickname, since nothing seems to actually cause him pain, judging by his expression, but the other fighter is called the Underground’s Strongest for a reason. He’s so fast he seems almost airborne at times, and he’s strong too, judging by how heavily the blond kid hits the floor when he finally falls. There was never a question, Erwin realizes, of who was going to win. Not in the mind of the crowd, anyway.

“I told you,” Hanji crows. “You’re going to try and sign up, aren’t you?”

“I’m insulted that you have to ask. Do you know who to talk to?”

“Ah, yeah, that’d be Annie. She’s a treasure.”

Annie is a blond girl with cold eyes who can’t be older than twenty. When Erwin tells her he wants to join the fights she glares up at him and says, “You used to be pro. We don’t want your kind coming in here.”

“I’ve been retired for the better part of a decade. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

Annie continues to glare at him in silence.

“Annie,” Hanji wheedles, “you know it’d be a great pull. The Underground’s Strongest versus a legitimate champion. Think about it.”

Annie does, and nods almost imperceptibly. “Point. What’d they call you again? Chief, or something?”

“The Commander,” Erwin says. It feels good to hear those words again.

“Whatever. I’ll see what I can do. Hanji will let you know if it works out.” She turns and walks away without another word.

-

“How did you find this place?” Erwin asks as they walk towards the train stop. 

“I used to fight,” Hanji says with a shrug, “back when I was in college. I had a lot of pent-up rage, I guess. You know how it goes. That was back before the Titans started running the show, but I knew people who knew people. Even underground fighters need a doctor sometimes, and I know how to keep my mouth shut. Don’t give me that look,” she adds with a laugh, “I’m not a mob doctor.”

“I never said you were.”

“Your eyebrows said it for you.”

They wait in silence for the train. The November night is cold and clear, and there are a handful of stars winking down at them. Erwin watches his breath form into clouds and thinks of how to beat the Underground’s Strongest.

Once they’ve boarded he turns to Hanji and asks what the short man’s name was. 

“He won’t want me to tell you,” she says. To her credit, her tone isn’t as smug as it could be. “It’s some sort of thing with him. I don’t know. If you impress him, I’m sure he’ll tell you.”

“If I impress him? Have a little faith, Hanji.”

“Hey, you saw him. You’re going to have to bring your A game if you want to stand a chance.”

“I know,” Erwin says.

“Then you better start training,” Hanji says, poking at his stomach. “You’ve gotten soft in your old age.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m just looking out for you.”

Erwin huffs out a laugh. A comfortable silence settles in the traincar. Hanji dozes on Erwin’s shoulder until he shakes her awake because she’s going to miss her stop otherwise. She wanders out, bleary-eyed and assuring him that she’ll let him know what Annie says. Erwin waves her off and goes back to his own thoughts. He nearly misses his stop, too, he’s so caught up.

He’s missed even being in the same room as a real fight. After he’d retired Erwin told himself to leave all of that behind. There was no point dwelling on a sport he no longer had a place in. He’d made the right choice to retire, just after his peak, before he could go noticeably downhill. He’d salvaged his health and his middle age. By all right, he should be perfectly happy.

Instead, he’s signing up for an underground fighting ring that is definitely illegal, because he misses beating the shit out of people. It isn’t quite that simple; he’s being too harsh on himself. He enjoys boxing because it requires physical and mental prowess, and because he is very good at it for that exact reason. But it is, also, about the pain, about causing it and about receiving it. 

He falls asleep to those thoughts, and he wakes hopeful for the first time in years.

-

A week later Hanji makes him get lunch with her, and as soon as Erwin sees her face he knows she has good news. Hanji’s excitement has never been of the kind that can be contained.

“You better step up your game, stud, because you’re fighting the Underground’s Strongest in a month, and Annie’ll skin me alive if you disappoint.”

Erwin hopes his eyebrows can convey the disdain he’s feeling.

“I know, I know, that word probably isn’t even in your vocabulary. For what it’s worth, I think you’ve got a better chance than the odds say. They’re just trying to make money.”

“Don’t tell me,” Erwin says. “I don’t want to know.”

“So,” she says, “let’s talk strategy.”

“Let’s not.”

“What can we talk about, your highness?”

“If you wanted to be helpful you could tell me what you know about these people, but I know you won’t.”

“I’ll tell you after your fight, even if you lose.”

“Generous as always.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Thank you, Hanji.” 

She rolls her eyes.

-

Erwin spends the next month training in a way he hasn’t in years and by the time the day of the match rolls around he’s chomping at the bit. He shows up at Hanji’s at six even though they don’t need to leave until seven thirty.

“Care to entertain me?” he asks when she opens the door.

“I suppose it’s only fair. Dinner?”

“I already ate.”

“You can still help me cook.”

“Fine,” Erwin says, and follows her into the kitchen.

Hanji cooks with a surfeit of energy. Erwin finds himself dodging elbows and knives and hot oil over the course of the process. When all is said and done, though, Hanji sits down at her bar with a delicious dinner in front of her. Erwin stands across from her and leans all his weight on his elbows. 

“Stop watching me eat,” Hanji says around a mouthful of food.

“You promised to entertain me.”

“I lied.”

Erwin laughs in a short, sharp burst, and then something occurs to him. “Shouldn’t they be trying to charge me an entry fee?”

“Ah,” Hanji hums, “that’s an interesting question.”

“No. Absolutely not. Explain yourself.”

“We’re in the middle of some contract negotiations.”

“You’re not my manager.”

“Well, I sort of am, but we can have that argument later. The Titans like to have at least a few fighters on their payroll at any given time, and you’re not a bad prospect. I told them you wouldn’t go for it, but they are persistent people.”

“You should let me handle this on my own,” Erwin says.

“But this way,” Hanji retorts, “they won’t realize that we’re both the brains behind this operation.”

“You think it’s going to come to that?”

“It’s why I didn’t want to tell you. I don’t want you to think I got you mixed up in a gang affair for my own amusement or something.”

“I would think many things of you Hanji, but not that.”

After that, the subject is dropped. Erwin thinks about bringing it up again on the train, but there’s really nothing more to be said. He can imagine what the Titans would want from him, and he isn’t willing to give it. Instead, he thinks about the upcoming match. Anticipation thrums beneath his skin. He replays what he remembers from the fight last month. The Underground’s Strongest likes to keep his distance, which makes sense. If Erwin can keep him close, he has a good chance. But he’s sneaky and underhanded, too. Erwin had definitely seen some non-regulation punches being thrown. He’s good at thinking on his feet—no, better than good, Erwin is a mastermind—but he can’t imagine what someone like this will have up their sleeve.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hanji says as they exit the platform. “Just do what you always do.”

“Punch?”

“Outpunch him and outthink him. He’s the best,” Hanji says, “but you’re you.”

-

Hanji may have spoken too soon, Erwin realizes halfway through the bout. He’d remembered his opponent’s speed correctly, but not his strength. He’d accounted for the underhanded moves when the ref’s attention was wandering, but not for a ruthlessness that was almost entire foreign to Erwin himself. Erwin hadn’t gotten a good look at his face last time; he knows this because he would have remembered the eyes. They’re not dead, not blank, not cold, but they are not _not_ dead, cold, blank.

He gets in close, closer than he has been before, and lands a blow on the Underground’s Strongest’s left cheekbone. Erwin’s knuckles sting with the force of hit, but his opponent turns with the impact and whirls on Erwin. His face is red at the site of contact and his mouth is bloodied; Erwin’s fist is probably the size of half his face, easily, the punch hit more than his cheek. 

He stays close, which worries Erwin and sends him into a failed retreat. Suddenly he is everywhere, and though Erwin is fast for a man of his size he can’t block every punch. He’s flagging but still moving, still searching for a way to win when his opponent’s body twists in a way he hasn’t seen tonight, and there’s a knee slamming into his gut and Erwin buckles. This must be what Muy Thai fighting is like, he thinks, only worse, because it happens all the time. It’s an inane thought to have as he’s losing, but there it is.

He does snarl up at the Underground’s Strongest, though, and spits blood onto his feet. He sees something stir, then, in the depths of those eyes.

-

“Don’t feel bad,” Hanji says afterwards, in a back room, “no one’s ever lasted that long.”

“Thank you for your support.” Erwin leans back against the wall, closes his eyes and tries to breathe through his nose. He is not entirely unsuccessful, which he counts as a victory.

He’s spared Hanji’s retort by someone entering the room. Erwin tries to ignore them but an unfamiliar voice is saying his name, so he forces his eyes open and turns toward the offending sound.

It’s the redheaded woman he’s only seen in the presence of the Underground’s Strongest.

“I’m Petra,” she says. “You were really impressive out there. Kneeing you was a bit excessive, but Levi doesn’t like to take chances. I told him you weren’t one of their goons, but he’s a stubborn fuck.”

Erwin can’t help but smile at her. She must just be one of those people, because Hanji is also grinning like a fool. Then his brain catches up with his ears.

“Levi? That’s his name?”

“Yeah,” Petra says. Then: “Oh shit, I wasn’t supposed to tell you, was I? I understand why he’s wary, but it’s just a first name, and not even a super rare one.”

“Who knows,” Hanji says. Petra turns to her and shrugs elaborately.

Erwin closes his eyes again, and listens to the ebb and flow of their conversation.

He has no idea how much time has passed when Hanji snaps her fingers right in front of him. “Don’t doze off here!” she reprimands. “We’ve got an entire train ride for you to do that.”

“Ugh,” Erwin says.

“Besides,” Hanji says, barreling on, “Petra is here talking to me, meaning that there is no one hanging around Levi to tell you to leave.”

“You should go now,” Petra says, “or he’ll just get tired of waiting for me and leave.”

“Fine,” Erwin sighs, and levers himself up.

Petra points him towards a room at the other end of the hallway. Erwin is wary of the lack of goons lurking back here, but Petra tells him they know better than to come try and mess with any of the fighters.

“Well,” Hanji starts, and Petra swats her on the arm.

Erwin opens the door and immediately prepares for some sort of grievous bodily harm to be inflicted. When it isn’t, he shrugs and walks in, closing the door behind him.

Levi sits on a bench, washing his face and arms with a rag and a bucket of water. He’s looks completely unsurprised to see Erwin.

“Are you here to kill me?” Levi asks. “Because it won’t work.”

“Uh, no,” Erwin says. “Do you seriously think that?”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Levi says.

“If I was going to kill you I wouldn’t be so stupid about it,” Erwin says.

Levi rolls his eyes in a way Erwin assumes is amused and gestures for Erwin to sit down next to him.

“You’re filthy,” he says, and swivels to straddle the bench.

“I was just in a fight.”

“Not an excuse,” Levi says. “Here.” He tugs Erwin around to face him and starts to scrub at his face. Levi’s touch is anything but tender, but it is warm and sure and Erwin leans into it.

“I’m impressed you held out as long as you did. I was…I’m not usually that nasty,” Levi admits. 

“It’s fine,” Erwin says.

“That’s all you have to say after a beating like that?”

“Well, you know, how’s that quote go: The trick is not minding that it hurts.”

“Yeah, the android. You kind of remind me of him.”

“Devastatingly handsome?”

“Creepy as fuck.”

Erwin laughs at that and Levi gives him a wary look. “It takes more than that to get under my skin,” Erwin says with a leer.

Levi rolls his eyes and moves on to washing Erwin’s arms and then his chest. 

“Are you going to come back?”

“If they’ll let me. Hanji said they wanted me on their payroll.”

“I knew it.”

“I have no interest in being a hired thug.”

Levi’s hands still over Erwin’s chest. Erwin grabs Levi’s wrists and holds them in place. Levi drops the rag and flattens his hands against Erwin. They lock gazes, and Erwin feels something warm curl through his chest. Levi doesn’t flinch or look away. Erwin knows that he can be off-putting to some; he’s too intense, too calculating, too cold for most. It rarely really bothers him, but it does irritate. He sees something similar in Levi’s eyes, a strangeness that is different than his but equally intense. 

Erwin knows exactly how this is going to end, but he enjoys the drawn-out tension, the thrill of the hunt. Levi must, too. He’s not moving, but his eyes are sharp like twin knives, and his lips are parted.

Of course at that moment Hanji bursts in, because Hanji has a keenly honed sixth (seventh, probably, Erwin suspects she has too many sense for a human) sense for when Erwin is going to get some. Maybe there could have been less staring. Levi smirks as he pulls away.

“Let’s go, champ,” Hanji says. “Or the trains are gonna start running on the hour only.”

“Don’t you have a car?” Petra asks.

“Like I’m going to bring my car down here.”

“Asking for trouble,” Levi says. He turns back to Erwin: “I’ll be seeing you around.”

“If they’ll let me come back. I did lose.”

“Please, like they’d turn down a former pro,” Petra starts, but Levi talks over her.

“You don’t need to be fighting to come watch.” Petra’s face does something indescribable, which Erwin assumes is a good sign.

“Then I’ll be around,” Erwin says.


	2. Chapter 2

In a truly impressive display of restraint, Erwin waits an entire week before heading back to the ring. Hanji sends him an email telling him how to get in without having to pay and what days there are fights, but when he badgers her about going with him she just sends him a snapchat of her scheduled appointments with the caption “!!!”. Apparently it’s a crazy time in the world of sports medicine.

He goes anyway, on Friday night, which Erwin figures will have pretty good crowds and ergo a good fight. He doesn’t bother to ask Hanji, since she’s either going to be elbow-deep in journal articles or catatonic. 

Erwin gets there late, but he was right: there’s sizeable crowd gathered to watch two young men fight. One of them is good—promising, is the adjective Erwin would use. The other is not. This is going to be a short fight, probably, but Erwin doesn’t really care. He isn’t here to watch.

He finds what he is here for leaning against the wall near the exit, watching with the same disinterested expression Erwin suspects he wears all the time.

“It won’t be much longer,” Levi says when Erwin settles in next to him.

“He’s good.” Erwin nods at the dark-haired boy.

“Reckless,” Levi says. “She’s better.”

“Who?”

“Her,” Levi says, pointing with his finger as opposed to a minute twitch of his head. “His girlfriend. Mikasa.” Levi pauses before saying her name, as though he needs to reassess Erwin’s trustworthiness.

Erwin looks. Mikasa is a tall, lean young woman. Erwin can’t see much more than that at this distance, but she has her arms crossed as though she’s bored.

“How good?”

“Very. Don’t tell her I said that, though. She’ll be even better.”

“As good as you?”

Levi snorts. “Who knows?”

“Where’s Petra tonight?” Erwin asks, changing tack.

“Working. She’s a nurse.”

“Oh?”

“You’re awfully nosey,” Levi says. It isn’t a warning, but Erwin has a definite plan for how this is going to end, so he shuts up.

Now that he has a chance to really look, Erwin can see that the dark-haired boy is a little reckless. It won’t work against him here because his opponent is too slow, and too weak. He’s being hounded across the ring, barely managing to defend himself, but there are openings he could have taken, were he better. The kind of openings that lead to defeat and, apparently, death.

It’s over after another ten minutes, if that. The announcer yells “Eren Jaeger!” and Erwin files the name away.

“Let’s get out of here,” Levi says, and turns to leave without checking if Erwin is following.

Erwin does, of course. 

Levi leads him to an apartment building in the adjacent Trost neighborhood. His apartment is on the first floor and the bedroom window is barred. Erwin wonders how someone so vigilant could chose to live somewhere so vulnerable, but Levi just shrugs.

“Better me than someone who can’t look after themselves.”

Erwin is in too deep, and this is only the second time they’ve been alone. The bed Levi pushes him onto is folded with military precision, all sharp crisp corners. Everything in the room is so clean it’s angular. Everything cuts.  
Levi’s teeth on his lower lip are sharp, too, as he bites his way into Erwin’s mouth. His legs settle around Erwin’s hips like a vise and he is a relentless warmth. Erwin lets Levi take the lead for now; he kisses Erwin hard, with one hand curled around his jaw and the other at Erwin’s belt. When he moves back to removes his shirt Erwin follows suit and laughs, “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

“You should see me after a fight,” Levi says, voice muffled by the fabric in front of his face, “when I’m really riled up.”

Erwin watches the ripple of Levi’s muscles as he tosses the shirt aside and starts on his own belt. Erwin shucks his own pants and crawls to cover Levi’s body with his own.

“You think I can’t rile you up?” Erwin asks, mouth pressed against Levi’s ear.

Levi doesn’t reply, but he smirks and digs his right hand into the small of Erwin’s back and grinds up against him. The left reaches towards the nightstand. Erwin takes a deep, perverse pleasure in watching his wrist shake as Erwin presses their erections tighter together and rolls his hips. 

Levi flings a condom and a packet of lube at him.

“Really?” Erwin growls.

“There’s only so much pain I want to take,” Levi replies. “I didn’t tell you not to do it rough, did I?”

Erwin presses a smirking kiss to Levi’s neck and goes to work. He uses the lube, but when he starts to work Levi open with only two fingers, slower, more teasingly, Levi rolls his hips and his eyes and tells him to hurry up. So Erwin pulls his fingers free and rolls the condom on. He wants to make eye contact with Levi, just to make sure he’s ready, but Erwin knows that will only get him derision, so he fixes his gaze on the junction of Levi’s neck and left shoulder and pushes into him.

Levi makes a noise in the back of his throat like a wounded animal and coils his body to thrust himself further down onto Erwin’s cock. 

Erwin only gets a minute to revel in how tight Levi is, how hot, before Levi is using all his strength to push Erwin back onto his thighs. Then Levi is free to lever himself into Erwin’s lap and clutch at Erwin shoulder hard enough that Erwin knows there will be bruises there the next day, red and angry. It feels almost like Levi is trying to climb him, but then he works back down onto Erwin’s cock and Erwin sees stars.

For a while he lets Levi do what he wants, but Erwin thinks he sees a sneer on Levi’s face, and he has to rise to the challenge. When Levi tries again to raise himself up, Erwin catches him by the hips and holds him still. He’s stronger, when all is said and done.

“Do you think you’d get to call all the shots?”

“For a moment,” Levi pants.

Erwin holds him in place and rolls his hips, and kisses the whine out of Levi’s mouth. For all his sharp edges Levi is soft and warm inside like everyone else Erwin has ever kissed, but with Levi it becomes something newer, sweeter. “Don’t underestimate me again,” Erwin hisses.

The way Levi grins as Erwin thrusts into him says he won’t, not anymore.

-

Levi falls asleep immediately afterwards, almost like a computer shutting down. One minutes he’s screaming into the meat of Erwin’s shoulder, bloodied with bites, and the next he’s curled in on himself, snoring softly.  
Erwin considers leaving, because he can’t imagine that Levi is comfortable sleeping with someone else in the room, but then, if he wasn’t, why would he fall asleep so easily. Erwin knows that Levi doesn’t leave these sorts of things up to chance. He tells himself he’ll only take a nap, and then see himself out.

When Erwin wakes up, sunlight is streaming through the blinds and Levi is getting dressed. Not a nap, then, Erwin thinks. 

“I should have known you’d sleep like a log,” Levi says.

“Not all of us can pass out right after sex,” Erwin tells him. He stretches his arms over his head and arches his back, now acutely aware of every new bruise Levi has given him. Levi watches him as he does, his mouth slightly parted. Erwin feels the thrill of victory up and down his spine.

Levi shakes his head and looks away. “I had a busy day. I doubt you can say the same, coming from where you do.”

“And where do I come from?” Erwin asks, humoring him. Levi’s antagonism doesn’t bother him, it intrigues him. No one grows an exterior this sharp and cold without reason.

“The center,” Levi says. The _obviously_ is left off but Erwin can hear it in his voice. “All you people do is sit on your asses while the rest of us—“ he cuts himself off abruptly.

“While the rest of you what?” Erwin leans forward. Levi has stopped dressing and is facing Erwin completely now, his shirt hanging from his hand.

“It’s none of your business,” Levi says, but he doesn’t move. 

“I could make it my business,” Erwin says carefully, tiptoeing around saying ‘I want it to be my business. I want you to be my business.’ He and Levi have only known each other for a week. Erwin is captivated, though. He has never met anyone like Levi. He’s fascinating.

“You’ll find out soon enough if you keep fighting,” Levi tells him. Whatever spell that had been holding him still breaks, and Levi pulls his shirt over his head and turns his head away.

“Are you capable of giving a straight answer?” Erwin asks, getting out of bed. His clothes are in a pile by the bed and he focuses his attention on them.

“When I want to. I could ask you the same thing, you know. I have no idea why you’re even here.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious why I’m here,” Erwin jokes.

“Don’t be an asshole. You know what I meant.” 

“I was bored.”

“What sort of creep are you?” Levi asks, and Erwin can feel his gaze on the back of his neck as he starts to dress.

“It was Hanji’s idea,” Erwin says. He tries not to take offense. It’s easy because he already knows he’s already developing a soft spot for Levi. Hanji is the only other person who’s ever stood up to him, but it’s never been like this. Never so charged. Hanji’s attention is like a laser, but it dances around so quickly and so often that it doesn’t burn like this, like Levi’s scrutiny.

Levi is still staring at him. He must be waiting for something.

“I like fighting,” Erwin offers. “I’m good at it.”

“That’s it,” Levi says, voice flat.

“I don’t know what you expect me to say. Hanji may have had some ulterior motive, but I didn’t.”

“She would,” Levi agrees.

“You know her, then?”

“She knows Petra.”

“That’s not really an answer.”

Levi snorts and it’s almost fond. Erwin can’t help but grin.

They walk to the door together and Erwin bites his tongue to keep from asking where Levi’s going.

“You should come back a week from Thursday,” Levi says as the turn their separate ways. “The Ackerman girl is fighting.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

-

Erwin gets a call at his work number on Monday. That in itself isn’t unusual, but the number isn’t listed. When he picks up, the caller says, 

“We want you to fight for us.”

“Aren’t you supposed to speak to my manager about this?” Erwin asks. It must be the Titans, he figures. The voice is unfamiliar, but that isn’t surprising. He’s only heard Annie speak.

“She has been unavailable.”

“Then wait for her to become available,” Erwin says.

“We do not like to wait,” the voice says. “We will talk with you directly.” It’s male, deep and without any identifiable accent. It doesn’t sound modified, but Erwin can’t say that for sure.

“What does being on your payroll entail?” Erwin asks. As he does, he fumbles for his cellphone and texts Hanji: _pretty sure the titans are trying to recruit me._

“Not much work but more money than you’ll make in the ring.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Erwin presses. His phone buzzes. It’s Hanji. _Don’t risk it_ , she writes. Erwin thumbs back, _having someone on the inside would be useful_.

“You win when we tell you to win, you lose when we tell you to lose.”

“That’s it?”

“You win how we tell you to win,” the Titan says and Erwin nods to himself. 

“If I say no, what happens to me?” He asks, and then checks Hanji’s reply. _Levi will kill you. That’s how that ends._ Erwin ignores it.

“You watch your back.”

“Am I still allowed to fight?”

“For now.”

“Then I think you have my answer,” Erwin says and hangs up. He looks towards to door to see Hanji standing there, waving her arms.

Before Erwin can even wave her in she’s at his side.

“I’m serious, you know,” she says. “They’ll try to get you to kill Levi and he’ll kill you first. I know your ego doesn’t like to hear it but there’s no way you’ll be able to kill him first.”

“You’re right,” Erwin says, which stops her in her tracks. “I basically told them to go fuck themselves. I still get to fight, though.”

Hanji huffs out a laugh. “You’re unbelievable, Smith, you know that?”

“I’ve been told.” He smiles up at her. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I had a free hour, actually, so I thought I’d come stop you from making the worst decision of your life.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

“Yes, yes, my propensity for hyperbole is well-noted. You can’t just go undercover. You’re not actually James Bond.”

“Right,” Erwin says. Then, when Hanji makes it clear she isn’t going to leave he asks, “What is it that no one is telling me?”

“What makes you think we’re keeping secrets?” Hanji blurts, too fast. She knows he knows, and looks determinedly at a far corner of the room.

“Jesus, Hanji, just let it out. I can understand Levi not wanting to trust me, but you?”

“Fine,” Hanji sighs. “But you’re paying for lunch.”

“It’s not my lunch break.”

“I saw your schedule, you’re free for the next three hours. Let’s go.”

-

Hanji drags him to their usual spot, orders their usual orders in a rush and refuses to tell him anything until their food has been served and the waiter has drifted away. Erwin starts to wonder if he is actually in over his head, or if Hanji is   
planning to sell him like chattel, or something else equally improbable.

“So,” she says. “I just don’t want you to get mad at me for mixing you up in all of this.”

“Really, Hanji?”

“Yeah, I know. You just seem so upstanding I sometimes forget how fucking insane you are. And we’ve never really gotten involved in anything that could get either of us killed.”

“Valid points,” Erwin admits.

“It’s not really that complicated,” Hanji says, “so don’t get too excited.”

“I’ll try.”

“Ass,” she sighs. “Look, Levi’s prickly and weird about the Titans because they are actually trying to kill him. They just don’t want his little posse to be able to blame them for it.”

“They’re a gang,” Erwin says. “Why does that even matter?”

“There’s something bigger going on behind the scenes. I only know what I’ve gotten from Petra, but the Titans have been slowly consolidating their control over the city for over a decade. They’ve been disappearing people for about as   
long. They try to go for people no one will miss, but sometimes there are family members left behind, like small children. Those who can’t really take legal action. Sometimes they kill out of retribution, obviously. But there’s no reason to hunt down undocumented workers or homeless people. None that makes sense given usual patterns of gang behavior.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner,” Erwin says, steepling his fingers.

“You’ve got some ideas, then,” Hanji says.

“Of course,” Erwin tells her, smirking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long! There is a thing I sometimes do called Grad School and it takes up a lot of time ): Yell at/with me @ my [tumblr](http://weird-tint.tumblr.com)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things heat up (in and out of the bedroom.)

“I thought you had something more exciting in mind,” Hanji whines, as she drops a stack of newspapers in front of Erwin.

“You love stuff like this; don’t lie,” Erwin says without looking up.

“Not as much as you, apparently.”

Hanji works in silence for a few minutes, leafing through the editions, until her head shoots up and she crows, “You’re trying to impress Levi, aren’t you? I knew there was another reason for this. This is the weirdest courtship ritual I’ve ever seen.”

“Give me some credit,” Erwin says.

“I kind of am. That was a superlative you heard there.”

“It’s only partially for Levi’s benefit. Besides, don’t tell me you aren’t imagining Petra’s reaction to all of this.”

“Still not as weird as you and Levi,” Hanji says, shaking her head. “God.”

Erwin doesn’t grace her with a response, but dives back into his work instead. 

It’s been slow going all day. Erwin doesn’t have much of an idea of what to look for except “disappearances no one would notice,” which makes it hard to find records of them in the news. The Titans don’t appear anywhere by name, even in the sensational pieces about gang violence that crop up every few months. They have no web presence, either, unlike every other gang of note in the city. They only appear in twitter mentions from other gangs, and only mentioned obliquely. Those gangs that have recorded contact with the Titans are no longer operating, but the members’ deaths are never mentioned in any obituary section. Erwin is positive there is something going on with the Titans that has never happened with other gangs. In his gut Erwin feels like it has something to do with the city’s political machine, but he needs more to go on than just his gut.

When he was in college, Erwin had majored in political science. He had dreamed of going into politics, but he had loved boxing too, and he was young and fit and successful, and so that was the route he took. In retrospect, he would have made a bad politician at that age. He was young and naïve, and viciously radical in the way only the young and naïve can be. He still has a vicious streak, and his views still border on radical, but those two strains of his personality are no longer inextricably linked. Fighting had helped to change that; he could focus on physical pain, on hurting and being hurt. He misses it.

Levi is the first person he’s met that he thinks could really understand that. Hanji came close, certainly, but she was more interested in investigation and understanding the body.

“Earth to Erwin,” Hanji says, snapping her fingers in front of Erwin’s face and pulling him back to reality. “Shouldn’t we be mapping what we find? That’s the point, right?”

“Of the first step. If we can pinpoint where the Titans came from, maybe we can find out who’s calling the shots.”

“Hopefully.”

“Hopefully,” Erwin agrees. “We can rule out the south,” he says, tapping on the table, “and most of the west.” He drags his finger up the imaginary map.

“Which is weird,” Hanji muses. “Given that those are the areas most associated with gang violence.”

“I think it’s safe to say that the Titans don’t act like any other gang this city has seen.”

“They’d have to have different motives,” Hanji muses.

“Would they?”

“Well,” she hedges, “maybe not. They’re after a large amount of territory, which isn’t unusual, but they’ve been too successful, it’s suspicious. There’s no mention of new drugs, or new strands of drugs, coming into the area.”

“So there’s probably not a large distributor backing them.”

“Unlikely.”

“What could they want, then?” Erwin asks himself. 

Hanji doesn’t say anything for a while, and Erwin gets lost in his own thoughts. He wants to have something to tell Levi tonight, but it’s looking like all of their hard work has resulted in them knowing what they already suspected was true.

“I’ve got it,” Hanji says, loud enough that other patrons turn to look at them. Erwin’s shocked they haven’t been thrown out of the library yet, honestly.

She stares at him, and Erwin stares back. Everyone else in the room returns to what they were doing.

“Are you going to tell me or are you trying to develop telepathy?”

“I was just waiting for you to ask,” Hanji says.

“You’re so smug when you think you have all the answers.”

“I always do,” she says. It isn’t a lie.

“So…”

“Right, so. They only thing they do that is really different, that we know of, is the disappearing, right? There’s no proof they kill these people; no one’s ever found bodies. That must be what they’re after: people. They need people for   
something, people no one would come looking for. So it isn’t temporary.”

“Jesus,” Erwin breathes out. “It’s not for labor, then.”

“No,” Hanji agrees. “You wouldn’t need to make them disappear for that. Plus, where would they hide an industrial endeavor that big?”

“So we’re looking for someone in the pharmacological industry, then?” Erwin asks. He says it in as roundabout a way as possible because it’s a super fucked-up conclusion and if Hanji hasn’t come to it too he doesn’t want to be the one who put it on the table.

“Yeah,” she admits. “Maybe it has a military application, too. They’re always involved with shit like this.”

“Fuck,” Erwin says. 

“Exactly,” Hanji says. She looks down at the table, her expression unusually sober. “At least we’ll have something to tell Levi and Petra!”

Erwin rolls his eyes.

-

 

“We have very exciting news!” Hanji exclaims as soon as they’re within earshot of Levi and Petra. 

“Not here, though,” Erwin adds at a much more normal volume. Petra smiles indulgently and tucks herself into Hanji’s side and starts pointing at the ring. Erwin assumes she’s explaining who’s going to be fighting.

He gives Levi a speculative glance that is answered with a glare that clearly says, “If you think I’m going to cuddle up against you like that, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“News, huh,” Levi says.

“I think you’ll find it interesting,” Erwin confirms. “But tell me about this Ackerman girl.”

“There isn’t much I can tell you that you won’t be able to see for yourself.”

“Who’s she fighting?”

“They won’t tell us,” Levi says. He looks furious. It’s a good look for him.

“Why not?”

“They probably didn’t find someone until the last minute,” Levi admits, “but it could be something worse.”

“Are there not a lot of female fighters?” Erwin asks, surveying the room. The crowd is actually split fifty-fifty, and he remembers Hanji saying she used to fight. It’s strange, then, that they wouldn’t be able to find someone to fight her.

“Not that can hold their own against her. She’s been around just slightly too long for the Titans’ liking, and she won’t work for them. They’re going to be looking for ways to get rid of her,” Levi says, voice low. 

“Like they’ve tried to get rid of you?”

“Now you’re catching on,” Levi says.

They turn their attention to the ring, where Mikasa is making her entrance, swinging her arms back and forth with a blank expression on her face. She’s almost entirely muscle, Erwin notes. It’s impressive, almost professional. He can imagine why no one would want to fight her.

Just then, there’s a roar of astonishment that spreads though the crowd, and Erwin sees a woman coming up the stairs to join Mikasa. She’s blonde and shorter than Mikasa, her expression is almost as blank but somehow meaner, and Erwin knows he’s seen her before.

He realizes just before the announcer exclaims, “Annie Leonhardt will be challenging reigning women’s champion, Mikasa Ackerman!” that the blonde is the same young woman that Hanji introduced him to the first time he came here. 

Next to him, Levi sucks in a sharp breath.

Petra, too, looks astonished, and even Hanji is tilting her head and grinning in anticipation. Erwin can’t tell if Petra and Levi are afraid for Mikasa or if they’re just surprised Annie entered the fray. She’s too obviously a Titan agent, Erwin thinks, to be used to kill Mikasa.

“I didn’t know she still fought,” Levi mutters.

“Injury?” Erwin asks.

“Not as far as I know. I think she just didn’t care much. I only saw her once, but she’s good. Strange,” he adds. “Really fucking weird. I think she and Mikasa knew each other in school. I try not to get too involved with the brats.”  
Erwin can tell just from his tone of voice that Levi is absolutely involved with the brats. It’s endearing, and Erwin forces himself to focus on the ring, rather than the warmth blooming through his chest. 

Annie squares her feet and lifts her hands up to her ears. Erwin’s never seen anyone stand like that, but Annie looks completely calm and unafraid. Mikasa is more like a coiled spring, but when the bell rings she doesn’t pounce. Instead, she circles Annie warily. Annie stays just out of her reach. Mikasa narrows her eyes. For what feels like an eternity, nothing happens. 

The crowd is muttering in discontent. Levi, though, is still next to him, and Erwin can see Eren standing close to the ring, looking almost smug. There’s a blond boy next to him who looks equally contented.   
Annie narrows her eyes but doesn’t make any move towards Mikasa. Mikasa lunges suddenly, feinting to Annie’s right, and Annie takes the bait. She moves so fast Erwin almost doesn’t catch her movements, but he can see that if she’d gotten her hands on Mikasa the other girl would be on the ground in a tangled mess. Instead, Mikasa is behind Annie, slamming her elbow into her back and following with a knee to her side. Annie’s knees buckle, but she recovers and turns fast enough to block Mikasa’s next blow.

“I told you she was good,” Levi says.

“I never said I didn’t believe you.”

“Annie’s the only one who’s ever stood a chance against her. And vice versa.”

“Match of the century, then,” Erwin says.

“It’s the only one worth seeing for the next few months, I’d say.”

“I’ll have to find another reason to come around, then.”

Levi snorts and rolls his eyes, but the twitch at the corner of his mouth says he’s secretly pleased. Erwin is finding that Levi is not as difficult to read as his first impression had indicated. At least, he is not difficult for Erwin to read.  
In the ring, Mikasa and Annie are still going at it. Neither of them stays down long enough for the ref to start counting. They can take an extraordinary amount of punishment. Erwin’s never seen anything quite like it.

“Who’s going to win?” he asks Levi.

“I’m not psychic, but Mikasa won’t go down easy.”

“It doesn’t look like Annie will either,” Erwin remarks.

“She’s reactive, though. Mikasa is more aggressive.”

Levi prediction ends up being right, but not for what feels like hours later. Eventually, though, Annie can’t manage to react quickly enough to Mikasa, and then Mikasa is on top of her with a flurry of blows, and when she moves away Annie doesn’t spring up.

“What did you want to tell us?” Petra asks, as Mikasa and Annie make their ways out of the ring, and the crowd fills with equal sounds of elation and despair and money changes hands.

“Not here,” Hanji says in a voice that is clearly meant to be Erwin’s.

“Oh, not here,” Petra mimics. 

“I don’t actually sound like that,” Erwin tells them.

“You do,” Levi says.

“This is slander,” Erwin insists. 

Hanji laughs and steers them towards the door. “I assume you don’t need to go talk to the kiddos,” she says.

“I don’t think so,” Petra answers, looking over to Levi.

“They’ll be fine. I’m sure we’ll hear them celebrating later.”

“They live in the same building as Levi,” Petra tells Erwin. “He pretends he’s not looking after them. It’s sweet.”

“It’s not,” Levi grumbles. He stares at his feet, though, and Petra laughs.

“It is,” Petra coos, “but don’t worry, I don’t think any of them have really caught on. All those blows to the head,” she laughs.

Levi keeps determinedly not looking at anyone. It’s unbelievably endearing; Erwin is in too deep, way too fucking deep.

-

“Holy shit,” Petra says, when Erwin and Hanji have finished laying out their theory.

“It makes sense, though,” Hanji says.

“Yeah, yeah,” Petra agrees. “We just never thought it was like this, we weren’t looking at the big picture.”

“No time to look at the big picture,” Levi says, in a low, strained voice, “when there are Titans out there trying to kill you.”

“Exactly,” Erwin says. “If they keep people focused on day-to-day survival it lowers the chances that anyone will find out what they’re doing on the grand scale.”

Levi looks less wrecked, but only marginally. Wrecked, of course, on Levi, is nothing more than narrowed eyes and a tight jaw. It comes easy to Erwin, though, this knowledge of Levi. He wonders if he’s similarly transparent. Both options   
are frightening.

“What do they want?” Levi asks.

“The Titans?” Hanji replies.

“Yeah, dumbass. What do they want with us?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “But they’re probably backed either by pharmaceutical companies or the military.”

“Or the government,” Erwin reminds her.

“I’m conflating them with military here. They’d have to be involved at some level, for all of this to be happening undisturbed.”

“So what do we do now?” Petra asks. 

Everyone turns to look at Erwin. “Hanji has connections in the medical community, so she would start nosing around for information about new drugs being developed. I have a hunch that this isn’t about avoiding regulations on drug   
testing, though.”

“I haven’t heard anything suspicious,” Hanji agrees. “But I may not have been listening for the right stuff. I don’t pay attention to a lot of the big pharma news, anyway. It’s usually depressing or irrelevant.”

“So it’s military, then,” Levi says.

“I’d bet on it,” Erwin tells him.

“So what do we do?” Petra asks again. “How do we take these assholes down?”

“We have to find out who they are, first. The biggest clue to that may be the Titans’ home turf.”

“They’re not from around here,” Petra says.

“Exactly. Hanji and I tried to map out the spreading of their power, but the newspaper reports aren’t always the clearest.”

“Do you have a map?” Levi asks.

“Not on me,” Erwin admits. “But I could probably draw one for you.”

Levi gives him a look that clearly says, “You are strange, but I will humor you,” and gets up.

“I have a good memory,” Erwin says with a shrug. “And I wanted to go into politics when I was young, so I learned a lot about the city.”

“You never told me that,” Hanji says. “How cute! I assume you were a charmingly naïve college student.”

“Something like that,” Erwin agrees. “But a little more, how should I say it?”

“Unnerving,” Levi interjects, coming back from the other side of the room with a handful of paper.

Erwin takes the paper from Levi with a smile and sets about spreading the paper across Levi’s living room table. It isn’t hard, really, to memorize the layout of the city. It was, and to a large extent still is, a city of rigidly defined   
neighborhoods of varying size, nestled up against each other. The center of the city was a gleaming jewel, and things grew less and less brilliant as you went outwards. It was, Erwin suspects, a deliberate pattern. The names on many of the deeds to the properties in the heart of the city happened to be the same as the names that came up again and again on the ballot.

Once he’s sketched a rough map of the city, Erwin starts to point out the pattern of the Titans’ attacks. Levi adds in little corrections or elaborations: street names, a date moved a week back or forward, remarkably detailed descriptions of showdowns he’d witnessed. Erwin takes it all in and includes what he can on the map. The final product is almost beautiful in its detail, if weren’t a testament to something so horrible.

For a moment they all stare at the map in silence. 

“So,” Hanji asks, finally tapping a quadrant to the north of downtown, “who lives here?” It’s an otherwise unremarkable neighborhood with a low incidence of violent crime, but it’s the site of the first recorded disappearances.

Levi’s eyes narrow in thought but he says nothing, so Erwin lets it go for the time being.

-

Later, when Hanji and Petra have left hand in hand, Levi turns to Erwin and asks, “Why are you doing this?”

“Do you really not understand?” Erwin asks in turn.

“I don’t,” Levi starts. “I’ve never met someone like you. People don’t do things like this.”

“Most people don’t,” Erwin says. “Now come here.” He crooks a finger and Levi moves from his chair to join Erwin on the couch.

Erwin circles his fingers around Levi’s wrist and tugs Levi into his lap. 

“I’m going to take you apart,” he whispers, and lets his lips linger on the shell of Levi’s ear. 

Levi shivers deliciously. Erwin kisses him slow and careful, lets Levi turn to straddle his thighs and then slides one hand under Levi’s shirt, to rest at the small of his back. Levi’s skin is soft and cold under Erwin’s palm, and his back is so   
small, even though it is layered with muscle.

Levi moves restlessly in Erwin’s lap and starts to kiss Erwin faster, harder, with more teeth. Erwin moves his hands to Levi’s hips and holds him still.

“Not this time,” Erwin says, pulling back. Levi snarls, but stays still. 

“Good,” Erwin murmurs. As a reward he slides Levi off of his lap and onto the couch. Levi lies there, eyes bright and wary, but with his body relaxed.

Erwin undresses Levi with care and precision and kisses a trail down his body, from the dip between his collarbones to the tip of his groin. Levi’s dick is already beaded with precum and Erwin takes a moment to lick at the tip, just enough to make Levi buck and groan. Then Erwin eases Levi’s thighs further apart and lowers his mouth to press his tongue inside Levi.

Levi’s entire body arches and curls, and he lets out a sound Erwin didn’t think he was capable of making. It is _delicious_ , and Erwin is acutely aware of his own erection pulsing between his legs. He forces it out of his mind and returns his attention to Levi. He eats Levi out until Levi’s thighs are shaking against Erwin’s neck and he’s clearly straining for release. Erwin lifts his head up and sees Levi craning his neck to look at him.

“Come for me,” Erwin says, and Levi does, his eyes wide with shock. Erwin hadn’t expected it to work, and a little jolt of pleasure goes down his spine.

Erwin rocks back on his heels and observes his handiwork. Levi is a boneless mess, still catching his breath, flushed and sweaty. He struggles up onto his elbows and stares at Erwin.

“You don’t do anything by halves, do you?”

“I don’t see the point in it,” Erwin confesses.

“Good,” Levi says. “I don’t want to waste my time.” He sits up and surveys the couch cushions beside him.

“What a mess,” he sneers, “we’re not staying here. Come back to bed, and I’ll take care of you.”

Without another word, Levi rises and heads to the bedroom.

Erwin grins, and follows.


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning Levi makes Erwin help him clean the couch. Eventually Levi snorts and tells Erwin to go do something else useful, since he clearly doesn’t know how to properly clean anything. Erwin obligingly shuffles towards the kitchen to see what he can do about breakfast. Levi’s fridge has only the bare essentials in it, and Erwin isn’t sure if Levi is frugal or if he is just genuinely unconcerned with remembering to buy food. It’s probably a bit of both, he thinks, as he takes out the carton of eggs.

As he cooks Levi comes to join him. He boosts himself up onto the counter and watches Erwin silently. Erwin is acutely aware of Levi’s gaze on the side of his face but keeps his eyes focused on the pan. Levi probably has something he wants to say; last night they hadn’t talked about the Titans at all, and Erwin knows Levi cares too much to withhold commentary.

He’s right, but it takes longer than he guessed for Levi to voice what’s on his mind.

Halfway through breakfast Levi puts his fork down and looks at Erwin, and asks, “Are you really planning to just come down here and tell us what to do about our problems?”

“No,” Erwin says. “Not exactly. I just thought another perspective would be helpful.”

Levi doesn’t say anything, so Erwin continues.

“Even if you can take on anyone they send after you, they have a numerical advantage. Eventually they’ll overwhelm you and take control of Trost just like they have everywhere else. But you can’t just ignore them, obviously. This is much more than a one-person operation.”

Levi nods. “I suppose you’re right. I never was one for the big picture.”

“But you’ve essentially been a one-man resistance army,” Erwin points out.

“Not entirely one-man. The kids help some, but I try to keep them out of the thick of it.”

“Ackerman and her friends?”

“Yeah, you’ll meet them sooner or later, I’m sure. They’ll want to know about this.”

“We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

“I know,” Levi says. He rises abruptly and clears the table. Erwin watches him clean the dishes. There’s a furrow in his brow that Erwin wants to ask about, but the sound of running water would drown out his voice.

“You know,” Levi says as he sits down again, “the Titans are strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“They don’t care about the things they should. They don’t bring in their own dealers or suppliers. They just absorb smaller gangs, but I’ve heard they just take their cut of the profits and leave them alone. The only thing they’ve really taken an interest in is the boxing ring. It was around before they came in, but it wasn’t nearly as big. They replaced everyone who ran it with their own.”

Erwin hums in thought. Levi’s right that it’s suspicious, but Erwin doesn’t know yet what it can tell them about the Titan’s plans. 

“Why the boxing?” He asks aloud and Levi leans forward a bit, eager to hear where Erwin is going with this. “It’s loud, it draws a crowd, it can’t happen every night.” He taps his fingers on the table. “How often do they use their own people as fighters?”

Levi purses his lips in thought. “Not too often. They rarely have someone fight more than once for them. The Leonhardt girl, two others. Braun and Hoover, I think. Not that names matter,” Levi says with a shrug. “Petra and I tried to find out more about them, but there’s nothing.”

“They’re all good?”

“Very,” Levi says. “Leonhardt more so than the others, but they’re nothing to shake a stick at. You saw me fight Braun, remember?”

“Of course,” Erwin says. “Why did they call him the Armored Titan?”

“Beats me,” Levi says, but then he pauses. “Wait. His skin was…strange. It felt thicker than normal skin, when I hit him. Not that I let it stop me.”

“You’ve never fought anyone else whose skin felt like that?”

“I’d remember,” Levi says. “I thought it was weird but I put it out of my head after the fight. I was a bit distracted.” He gives Erwin a look. Erwin laughs.

“My deepest apologies,” he says, but after that his laughter dies.

Levi catches his eye and Erwin knows he’s thinking the same thing. It should be impossible, but really there’s no reason it couldn’t be happening. Erwin isn’t particularly concerned with advances in scientific research but he thinks that he still would have heard if mankind had suddenly become capable of something like this. That, of course, is wishful thinking. If this sort of research required human subjects and had a monstrously high fatality rate among its subjects, but had wide-ranging implications for the military-industrial complex, of course he wouldn’t have heard. It lines up perfectly, like something out of a book. 

“Pigs,” Levi spits. 

Erwin only nods, too busy trying to focus on a plan of action. If he doesn’t he knows he’ll given in to the same incandescent rage that is glimmering below the surface of Levi’s eyes, and then they won’t accomplish anything. 

“I want to know more about Braun,” he blurts.

Levi, to his credit, doesn’t ask why. He just nods and says, “He was in school with most of the kids. Leonhardt and Hoover, too.”

“The kids who live here?”

“Yeah,” Levi says. “We can go ask them now, assuming they aren’t too hungover. You should meet them anyway; they don’t really like strangers.”

“I can’t imagine how they learned that,” Erwin says.

Levi rolls his eyes. “Don’t listen to Petra. I don’t actually spend that much time with them. They just need occasional looking after, especially since…”

“Since what?”

Levi sighs. “Since one of them was killed in the ring.”

Erwin goes completely still and waits for Levi to explain.

“It was a year ago, right around when we started clashing with the Titans over this shithole of a neighborhood.”

“A warning,” Erwin says.

“Yeah. Not that it did much good,” Levi says. “The kid never stood a chance. He wasn’t bad—actually he was a pretty good fighter but he was outclassed and he liked to play by the rules. His friends were all there.”

“And word of this never got out? No one looked into it?”

Levi snorts. “There are plenty of people who like to sink their money into the fights and don’t particularly want them shut down. And besides, when was the last time anyone cared that a kid from the outer neighborhoods died?”

Erwin bows his head. Levi’s right. There are so many factors working against them here.

“I stepped in when I realized their revenge plan hinged on getting someone else killed.”

“What?”

“Kids are dumb, dumber when they’re grieving. One of them has a father who lives in the center—not that they’re ever in contact, but the name’s the same—so they were hoping his death would drum up some sort of media attention.”

“Christ,” Erwin breathe out, “and he was willing to die?”

“He watched his best friend get murdered by the Titans. It changes your priorities a little bit.”

“It really is personal here, isn’t it?”

“It always has been,” Levi tells him. Then: “You should meet them.”

“Right, right.”

Levi apparently means he needs to meet them right now, because he drags Erwin out of his apartment and up the stairs. He stops at the second floor and knocks on one of the doors. When no one answers, he knocks louder, and the door   
swings open to reveal the blond boy he saw standing next to Eren last night.

“Armin,” Levi says. “This is Erwin.” He pauses, like this might be all he has to say, and Armin, who clearly has an outstanding hangover—his eyes are narrowed against the hallway light, and he looks like Levi’s words are causing him physical pain—makes to close the door.

“Actually,” Levi continues, “you two should get to know each other.” He turns to Erwin and adds, “Armin would be able to help you. He’s clever.”

“Thanks?” Armin croaks.

“I guess I should tell all of you what we’ve figured out, but I can’t imagine anyone is more functional than you right now.”

“Unlikely,” Armin agrees. “Is it about the Titans?”

“Yeah,” Levi says. “You two should talk, but not now.”

“Are you just going around introducing him?” Armin asks. He shoots Erwin an embarrassed look. “Not like I don’t get why you’re doing it.”

There’s a noise from inside the apartment, and Armin turns to look. “Jean might be up,” he tells them.

Levi frowns and the pushes past Armin into the apartment. “New plan,” he says, “we’re having this meeting now. Waiting won’t do any good.”

Erwin follows Levi tentatively, giving Armin an apologetic look as he does. From what Erwin assumes is the living room he hears a yelp of surprise. Armin shakes his head.

“I guess I’ll go get the others.”

Erwin follows the sound of Levi’s voice, to where he’s talking to a young man who must be Jean. Jean looks about as happy as Armin to have been woken up. They make stilted conversation until Armin comes back with four others trailing   
behind him.

Once everyone’s been seated, Levi barrels through the introductions: Armin, Jean, Mikasa and Eren (both of whom Erwin remembers), Sasha, Connie. 

“Where are Christa and Ymir?” Levi asks when he’s done.

“They’ve been squirrely lately, about this whole thing,” Sasha says. Levi narrows his eyes but offers no further comment. He turns to Erwin and Erwin swallows, nods.

“Let me tell you what we’ve learned about the Titans,” he says.

-

Afterwards they are, for the most part, shaken and quiet. Eren looks like he’s a second away from running out of the room and hunting down anyone who looks like they may have worked for the Titans, but Mikasa has her hand circled around his wrist, and Erwin bets he isn’t actually going to go anywhere. 

“So what are we going to do?” Jean asks. His face is drawn as though he’s in pain.

“Most of you are going to keep doing what you’ve been doing,” Levi says. “And that includes not running around like an idiot looking to get shot, Jaeger.”

Eren frowns but doesn’t say anything in response.

“Arlert, though,” Levi adds, “you should talk to Erwin. Kirschstein, too. They’ve both got at least half a brain,” he tells Erwin as an aside.

Levi rounds up the rest of them and gives what looks like orders, based on the tight looks of concentration on their faces, while Erwin talks to Armin and Jean about how to go about finding the source of the Titans. He realizes almost immediately that he doesn’t really know what he’s doing, and looks over to Levi in a panic, but Levi is talking to Mikasa with almost laser-like focus. So Erwin keeps spinning out a plan like he’d had it in mind all along, and Armin and Jean keep nodding like he’s making sense. Eventually Erwin manages to convince even himself that they’re going to succeed. 

Eventually the kids disperse—still obviously hungover—so Erwin and Levi return to Levi’s apartment. 

“I don’t actually know what I’m doing,” Erwin says as soon as the door closes behind them.

“Do they know that?” Levi asks.

“No,” Erwin admits.

“Good,” Levi says with a shrug. “You’ll figure it out.”

“How do you know?” Erwin asks, even as he tells himself to keep his mouth shut.

“I’ve got good instincts,” Levi tells him, and that ends the conversation.

-

Erwin has to go home, eventually. He goes to work and has lunch with Hanji and the only thing on his mind is the finding the Titans. 

Hanji pores over FDA records, over grant proposals, over all the gossip she’s collected and nothing comes up. It was a long shot anyway; both of them know that this is probably coming from the military-industrial complex. Still, Hanji reminds him, it’s good that they’re covering all their bases.

One of Erwin’s longtime clients is the CFO for a large defense contractor, and they have something of a friendship growing between them. Erwin turns up the charm and they start getting lunch together occasionally. She isn’t one to talk about work, but Erwin knows how to do this. He knows how to get people to tell him what he wants. It just takes a little time.

Hanji jokes that he’s stepping out on Levi, but Levi’s the one who tells Erwin to fuck her if that means getting answers faster. None of the Trost kids have come up with anything. The Titan thugs mostly come from surrounding neighborhoods. They’ve started trying to shadow people after the fights, but the crowds are wild and they aren’t good enough trackers, most of them.

Erwin won’t sleep with her. She’s not interested in him, first of all. That’s the only thing he tells Levi, but the look Levi gives him lets Erwin know he knows the rest of it. They don’t talk about it, but Levi smiles more.  
It takes Erwin two months of concentrated effort to get anything out of her. One day, though, she’s downtrodden and frustrated and Erwin looks especially trustworthy. 

She won’t give him specifics, but Erwin learns that there’s been a huge cutback in defense funding. It’s been trickling away over the past several years, but this was the big blow.

“It’s those fuckers from up north,” she says. It’s the most identifying information Erwin can get. “Whatever they’re doing must be getting all the money.”

“I thought there was just a cut in the budget,” Erwin says. She laughs without any humor.

“On paper, that’s what it is. But I’m not stupid. It’s fucked up, that project of theirs, it has to be, or they wouldn’t have to fund it under the table.”

Erwin nods and continues to listen while he runs through his mental map of the city and lists every neighborhood on the north side he can think of. Nothing stands out.

As soon as he gets off work Erwin calls Levi.

“What’s up north?” He asks when Levi picks up.

“What do you mean?”

“They’re from up north.”

Levi is silent for a long moment, then swears.

“You should come down here,” he tells Erwin. “They’re in Shiganshina.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Erwin admits.

“Just get down here,” Levi tells him, and hangs up.


	5. Chapter 5

When Erwin finally gets to Levi’s place, Levi pulls him into his apartment and kisses him briefly, violently. His eyes are fevered with excitement. 

“What’s so important about Shiganshina?” Erwin asks.

“Three of the kids are from there,” Levi tells him. “I’d never really given it much thought.”

“Which three?”

“Arlert, Ackerman, and Jaeger. I don’t know all of the details, but it seems that they moved here when they were fairly young, after their parents were killed.”

“All of them?”

“Both of Ackerman’s and Arlert’s. Just Jaeger’s mother, though. His father adopted Mikasa and moved them down here. Arlert’s grandfather lived around here, so that’s why he moved.”

“That’s suspicious, right?” 

“I didn’t think much of it. Shiganshina isn’t exactly the safest neighborhood in the city.”

“No,” Erwin agrees, “but it was never like here. Not like the west or the south.”

“Well, no,” Levi concedes, “but a total of five deaths isn’t as surprising to me as it is to people from your part of town.”

“Point taken. So why Shiganshina?”

“Jaeger’s father is some kind of doctor,” Levi says. “I think he did medical research at one point. Petra’s looked into him but hasn’t found anything.”

“Hasn’t found anything, like, he’s not very good at his work or hasn’t found anything like it’s been hidden.”

“The second one, obviously. You think I’d make a big deal out of him being a shitty scientist on top of a shitty father?”

“I’m just trying to be thorough,” Erwin points out in as calm a tone as he can manage.

“I know,” Levi says, blowing air through his nose. “I’m just kicking myself for not putting it together sooner.”

“So where is he? Dr. Jaeger.”

“That’s the problem,” Levi tells him. “No one knows.”

-

Erwin watches the muscles in Levi’s back shift as they comb through the apartment complex looking for Eren and his friends. It’s barely even seven, so it doesn’t strike Erwin as strange that they aren’t around, but Levi insists that at least one of the Shiganshina kids is usually around at this time of night. Neither of them mention that fact that it’s dark out and the Titans have—probably—noticed the increased attention Levi and co. have been paying them. It isn’t a good  
combo, but Erwin can tell from the tension in Levi’s shoulders that it isn’t something he should bring up.

They find Sasha and Connie playing video games in their apartment, but they have no idea where the rest of their friends are. “Actually,” Sasha says as they’re about to leave, “I think Jean’s home. He might know.”

Jean hadn’t answered the door when they’d knocked the first time, but they dutifully head over to his apartment and try again. Levi doesn’t stop knocking for what feels like ages, in a steady, loud beat.

Jean finally answers the door and it becomes clear after about ten seconds that a) he has just woken up, and b) he has no idea where the Shiganshina kids are.

“They all get off work around the same time today,” Jean tells them after Levi fixes him with a murderous stare, “so they’re probably walking home together and got distracted or something. I wouldn’t worry too much.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Levi mutters, and Erwin decides that they’ve gotten enough information out of Jean. He thanks him and guides Levi back to his apartment. 

Levi paces around, occasionally rearranging things on the table or in the kitchen until he no longer looks like he’s going to kill someone. Erwin waits, and thinks. Hanji might have heard of a Dr. Jaeger, if he specializes in what Erwin thinks he specializes. He texts her, but doesn’t expect a fast response; he’d seen her and Petra leaving Hanji’s office for lunch and Hanji was clearly done for the day.

Finally, Levi sits next to him on the couch and slumps against Erwin’s shoulder.

“This is a fucked-up mess,” he says.

“Yes,” Erwin agrees, “but we’re getting closer to untangling it. You’ll see.”

Levi makes a disbelieving noise but doesn’t otherwise disagree. 

“If we ever find Eren,” Erwin adds.

“He’ll turn up,” Levi says. “Those kids are resilient.”

They lapse into a comfortable silence that lasts for so long that Levi falls asleep on Erwin’s shoulder. Erwin doesn’t know quite what to do. He wants to card his fingers through Levi’s hair—surprisingly soft, given how hard the rest of him  
is—but he doesn’t want to risk waking him. He can’t imagine Levi getting enough sleep most nights, not if he’s out keeping an eye on the neighborhood. So he focuses on staying still, and lets the rhythm of Levi’s breathing lull him into sleep.

-

They’re woken by frantic knocking. Levi bolts upright and scrambles for something to use as a weapon. Erwin rises more calmly and positions himself between Levi and the door. He thinks it unlikely that anyone coming to kill them  
would go through the front door—it’s a first floor apartment, after all—and even more unlikely that they would knock.

He’s right; it’s Armin, wild-eyed and clutching his left arm. Erwin can just see the flecks of blood on his shirt.

“They shot Eren,” he says. His voice is almost a whisper, like his vocal cords have been shredded and this is all the noise they can make.

Behind him Levi makes a furious noise. 

“Who shot him?” Erwin asks.

“The Titans. It was Annie.” His voice hasn’t gotten any louder, and he’s shaking. Erwin tries to remember the symptoms of shock but can’t. “They, uh, the ambulance came, and the cops, too.”

“Come sit down,” Erwin says, “and tell us what happened.”

Armin nods, and lets Erwin lead him into the apartment. He sits in the one armchair and Erwin and Levi sit on the couch, facing him. It feels a little too much like an interrogation, if Erwin’s being honest.

Levi doesn’t even say anything, just lifts his eyes to Armin’s and Armin nods, swallows, and starts to tell them what happened.

 

It goes something like this: Armin, Eren and Mikasa were heading home from work. None of them worked in Trost proper; they met up at the bus station and walked home together regularly. Everything was normal. They didn’t see anyone unusual or suspicious, and they were keeping their eyes open for Titans. Eren and Mikasa, especially, were hoping to find someone they could get answers from. 

They usually took a shortcut through an alley—a wide one, Armin insists, better lit than the word alley implies—and that was where Annie found them.

They didn’t really worry about her, Armin tells them. They’d all been in highschool together. She and Mikasa had both been conscripted for the girls’ field hockey team the first year it formed. Annie had been almost like their friend until graduation, and then she had vanished into the Titans’ ranks. They weren’t expecting her to have the gun.

She got a shot off at Armin before they could do anything to disarm her, but Mikasa had already started lunging at her so the bullet did little more than graze him.

Mikasa and Annie fought—Erwin can only imagine what it was like with the stakes being literally life and death; he isn’t sure if he regrets not seeing it—but Mikasa couldn’t get the gun away from Annie. Not fast enough. She shot Eren, a real, solid shot, not like Armin’s glancing wound. He went down, hit the ground with a noise Armin tries and fails to describe. Mikasa snapped and got the gun away from Annie. Armin says that maybe Annie wasn’t expecting to actually hit Eren, that maybe Mikasa got the gun so fast because Annie’s grip went slack.

Armin doesn’t use the word “pistol whip” but Erwin is pretty sure that’s because he’s actively trying to give a rational, unbiased account. Based on what Armin actually says, though, Erwin is convinced that the only accurate way to  
describe what Mikasa did next was to say that she pistol whipped Annie until she passed out.

She told the cops it was self-defense, but Armin doesn’t know what’s going to happen to her.

“I know someone,” Erwin tells him. “I’ll see what I can do.”

He tells them where the paramedics took Eren and Annie; it’s the hospital Petra works at. 

“Is that it?” Levi asks after Armin trails off.

He thinks for a moment, then says with a careful tone, “They did say something weird about Annie.”

“What do you mean?” Erwin asks.

“They said she was cold. Like, unnaturally cold.”

Erwin looks over at Levi, who’s clearly thinking the same thing.

“Are you okay?” Levi asks.

“Ah, I should be,” Armin answers. “The wounds weren’t very deep and they said I didn’t seem to be going into shock.”

That makes Levi grin. “You go home, then. We’ll handle the rest of this.” He looks over at Erwin, and Erwin nods, already pulling out his phone.

Erwin waits for Hanji to pick up as Levi steers Armin towards his own apartment. Jean wears the same expression of exhausted befuddlement, until Levi barks something at him and then it morphs into shock and fear. They don’t stick around to see how it falls out, but Erwin is confident they’ll both be fine.

Hanji listens to Erwin explain the situation with shockingly little backtalk. 

“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Petra’ll help me get in, so don’t worry about any of that. Just make sure no one comes for Eren, or the Leonhardt girl. Don’t forget about her.”

“I don’t think they’ll be able to move her. From what Armin said, it’s a miracle Mikasa didn’t kill her.”

“Yeah,” Hanji says in the soft slow tone that means she’s thinking. Erwin wants to tell her to hurry up; Levi’s herding him towards the door. “That’s the thing. We don’t know what they did to her.”

“Fuck.”

“Exactly. One of you go find her as soon as you get there, you’ll probably beat me. Both of you, even. Mikasa can keep an eye on Eren as well as anyone.”

“If she doesn’t get hauled in by the police.”

“Call Niles, idiot,” Hanji says, fondly, and hangs up. 

Erwin drove here, spurred by the urgency in Levi’s voice, so once they’re outside he tosses Levi his keys and says, “You drive, there’s someone else I need to call. If your feet can reach the pedals,” he adds, just to see Levi’s hackles rise.

“Fuck you,” Levi tells him, tone companionable, and opens the door.

Once inside, Erwin focuses on remembering Niles’ cell number. He lost it when he got his newest phone, and they don’t talk enough for it to be important. He can’t use his office number; this isn’t the kind of request you want on record, and Erwin isn’t even sure if owing someone a favor from back in college can cover what he’s going to ask Niles to do. Still, he remembers Niles being moral at his core, even if he was the sort of person who thought that joining the police meant that he would do good for the city. Not that Erwin has room to talk, given how he ended up.

The number finally comes to him; it had a funny pattern to it that had helped it to stick in the recesses of Erwin’s memory. Niles doesn’t pick up till the fourth ring, by which point Erwin is already thinking of alternate solutions.

“Erwin?”

“Remember that favor you owe me?”

“Hello to you, too,” Niles chuckles. “Gotten yourself into some legal trouble?”

“Not exactly,” Erwin says. “Someone I know. A girl.” Niles whistles, low. “No, you idiot, she’s like, nineteen.”

“Twenty,” Levi says, not taking his eyes off the road.

“Okay, twenty, whatever. Anyway, look, I assume someone got a statement from her earlier.”

“I don’t know what you want from me,” Niles says.

“I need you to not bring her in, not yet, not for at least a few hours.”

“I don’t even know who you’re talking about.”

“Would she have given her real name?” Erwin asks Levi, hand cupped over where he thinks the speakers in his cell are.

Levi shrugs expressively. “Maybe. She doesn’t have any priors and she’s not as fast with her tongue as her fists.”

“Mikasa Ackerman,” Erwin says to Niles. “Would have been at the scene with three others. Two went to the hospital. She pistolwhipped one.”

“Jesus,” Niles says. “I’m not sure exactly which case you’re talking about, but I’ll see what I can do.”

“It was less than an hour ago,” Erwin tells him.

“Sorry to shatter you’re illusions, but we’re not that efficient. Why’d they let her go in the first place?”

“Her partner had been shot,” Erwin says, weighing how much detail to give, “so she went to the hospital with him.”

“She’s claiming self-defense, then.”

“It was self-defense.”

“Right, right. Look, Erwin, I’ll do what I can to keep this out of sight, but you owe me an explanation.”

“Niles…”

“I’m serious. I’ll do it. Mikasa Ackerman, right? The name sounds familiar.”

“She doesn’t have any priors.”

“Didn’t say she did. Anyway, come by—I’m stuck cleaning up some rookies’ mistakes tonight..”

“Not to the station.”

“Jesus, Erwin,” Niles sighs, “what have you gotten yourself into?”

“I’ll explain it later, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you, fuck, okay, there’s a Starbucks two blocks down from the station that most cops don’t go to.”

“Because there’s one just a block away?”

“Yeah, fuck you,” Niles says, and hangs up.

“So?” Levi asks.

“Mikasa should be fine for the time being.”

“How do you know the chief of police?” 

“He’s not the chief, he’s…” Erwin doesn’t actually know Niles’ official title. “Whatever he is, he isn’t the chief. We went to college together.”

“Be careful what you tell him.” It’s the only thing Levi says for the rest of the drive.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People talk, but minimal action is taken. Things heat up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead, I'm just in grad school, which is like death but worse. Self-promotion [etc.](http://weird-tint.tumblr.com).
> 
> Also: 1000% not a doctor. Let the fantasy wash over u

Petra meets them at the hospital with a strange expression on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Levi asks. “What happened?”

“Eren’s fine,” Petra says, and some of the tension drains out of Levi’s shoulders. “Which is the problem,” she continues. “He’s too fine. The wound started healing itself as soon as they took the bullet out. They want to hold him for further observation.”

Erwin immediately starts texting this information to Hanji as Petra guides them to where Mikasa is sitting. She’s so tense Erwin’s afraid to even touch her shoulder, as though it’d be like releasing a bolt from a crossbow. Her face is a mirror of Levi’s, the same fury, the same fraying restraint.

Levi asks her if she know where they’ve taken Annie. Mikasa shakes her head; her mouth thins and tightens even further. 

“Petra might know,” Erwin offers, but Petra shakes her head. He sighs. “Then Hanji will definitely find out. You know how she is.”

Levi nods.

Erwin turns to Mikasa, suddenly remembering his conversation with Niles. “They’re not going to go after you,” Erwin tells her. She frowns.

“I talked to someone with the police. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

“It was self-defense.”

“Up until a point.”

Mikasa gives him a look that could strip paint, but doesn’t actually say anything.

Erwin changes tack. “Do you know where they took Annie?”

“To this hospital,” Mikasa says, and then stops. Erwin resists the urge to prompt her; obviously she was taken here. It’s the closest trauma center.

“They didn’t take her to the OR like they did with Eren,” she adds. “They said she was…they didn’t think they could do anything for her.”

“She’s dying?” Levi asks.

Mikasa shakes her head. “I did…she was pretty roughed up, but I don’t think it was that bad. She was cold.”

“Cold?” Erwin prompts.

“Like ice. Not like humans get cold. Like, maybe, she was freezing herself. Which humans can’t do,” she adds, eyes narrowed.

“Do you have any idea which direction, at least, they took her?”

“I was a little distracted,” she answers, perfectly deadpan.

“Hanji will figure it out,” Levi assures him. Erwin knows he’s right, but he doesn’t want to have to explain to Hanji that he’s lost control of the situation. She’ll give him hell about it later. 

“We’re running out of time,” he tells Levi, who nods. They’re wasting valuable time here, but he doesn’t know where to start. They need to talk to Eren, they need to keep track of Annie, they need to find the Titans’ HQ. 

Levi is a solid, grounding presence at his side. “We’re going to talk to Eren first,” he declares.

“They won’t let me in to see him,” Mikasa says, and Erwin can hear the unsaid implication that Levi won’t be able to get past the nurses either.

Levi smirks. “One day, Ackerman, I might teach you how to bully your way into a hospital room properly.”

Erwin is in love. He knew, already, on some level, that Levi was a person apart for him, who fit into his life so seamlessly and yet was radically different from anyone or anything Erwin had ever known. Having him at his side was a comfort Erwin had imagined but never really known, having someone who understood him and someone he could lean on.

Levi looks at him like he knows, and then he heads off in the direction Mikasa tells him leads to Eren’s room. Mikasa trails after him.

Erwin watches them go, and tries to think of the best way to find the Leonhardt girl. As he’s contemplating threating and/or charming one of the nurses—he can do both with equal finesse—Hanji materializes by his elbow. She’s in a pair of scrubs. Erwin has never seen her look this serious.

“She’s been moved to a private room,” Hanji says without any preamble. “Placed under the care of a private doctor. Her family won’t budge on the issue.”

“Isn’t that illegal?”

“I have no idea,” Hanji admits, “but it sounds like there’s a lot of money moving around.”

“Do you have the doctor’s name?”

“I do,” Hanji smirks. “It’s a Dr. Langacker.” Before Erwin can ask who the fuck that is, she continues: “It’s interesting because he doesn’t do private practice, nor is he on staff and any hospital in the city. He does research for North Central U, mostly.”

“Has he been awarded and large grants lately?”

“Now you’re asking the right questions,” Hanji says. “As a matter of fact, he has. Something to do with tissue regeneration.”

“Fuck,” Erwin says. “It’s him. If we find him we’ve got them.”

“Erwin?”

“Eren’s bullet wound closed up on its own. It’s like nothing even happened to him. Langacker must have lab space, right?”

“You think that’s their front?”

“I think it’s part of it. They’re pushing for legitimacy. They probably have people in the government, too.”

“So you’re just gonna charge in there?”

“No, I have to meet with Niles first. He probably knows more than he realizes.”

Hanji snorts. “You two are talking again?”

“He owed me a favor, so I called it in. Mikasa won’t be charged. They’re going to lose the files on this incident.”

“Well, you go deal with him. I’ll make sure Eren gets out safe, and I’ll do what I can with the Leonhardt girl.”

“There’s one thing I need to do first,” Erwin says. “I need to talk to Eren.”

“You think he remembers something.”

“I think if those memories are ever going to come back, it might as well be now.”

“Always the pragmatist,” Hanji chuckles. “C’mon, then.”

“I know the way,” Erwin tells her. “You focus on finding the Leonhardt girl.”

“What should I do with her?”

Erwin stops in his tracks. “I don’t know. Don’t let anyone take her anywhere, I guess.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Hanji says with a smirk, and salutes. Erwin rolls his eyes. He assumes that Levi has managed to get into Eren’s room by now. Failure isn’t an option. If Levi hasn’t been able to convince the nurse to let them in, Erwin will. He has no illusions about the effect his height and build can have, combined with his ability to sweet-talk.

As it happens, Levi has been successful. He’s leaning on the wall near the door while Mikasa talks to Eren in a low tone so no one can make out her words. Eren himself is sitting up in his bed, with nothing in his posture giving away the fact that he had been shot only hours ago. Neither of them notices Erwin at first, and Levi does nothing to draw their attention. Finally, he decides they can’t waste any more time, and coughs. Both of them jump like he’s just fired a gun. Perhaps that’s not the most sensitive analogy.

“Eren,” he starts.

Eren looks immediately guilty, which is a good sign. If he’s guilty he knows something, and Erwin will be able to get it out of him without a struggle.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he says, like Erwin’s going to blame him. Erwin spares a moment to feel bad about that.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he tells Eren. “But you can help me anyway.”

“How?”

“I need to know what you remember about your father.”

Eren doesn’t do much of anything, but Mikasa narrows her eyes and hisses through her teeth. Jackpot.

“If we can find him, we can end this thing.”

“I don’t know where he is,” Eren says. “I haven’t seen him in years. No one has.”

Erwin waits. Mikasa breathes loud enough that he can hear here, which confirms his guess that Eren knows more than he’s letting on. 

“I’m…remembering things,” Eren says, finally. “After my dad left I couldn’t remember anything about why he’d gone. Or most of what happened for days before he left. I think I’m missing like two days, and Mikasa has no idea what happened, either.” Mikasa grunts in agreement.

“But I’ve started remembering things, ever since Annie shot me.” Ere pauses for a moment. “My dad got more involved in his research after my mother died, and I didn’t see him a lot. He didn’t really care about me or Mikasa. And I guess at some point he just stopped coming home because he was at work so often, and Mikasa and I were trying to get out of Shiganshina with Armin because his parents were dead, too, and his grandfather lived in Trost. Anyway. He came back one night—I guess, this is the part I don’t remember—and he took me down to the basement and he started talking about how they might come for us, for me and him and Mikasa, and all I remember after that is a needle and blood. After that we didn’t live in Shiganshina anymore.”  
Erwin could probably press more, but Eren doesn’t look like he can go further into the cave of memory, and beside him Mikasa is gathering herself for a fight. This isn’t all that he needs, but it’s a start. Eren’s father must have injected him with whatever he had developed for the Titans. Now they just need to track him down.

“Mikasa,” Erwin says, and her head snaps up. If he were another man, he might be afraid of her.

“Leave him alone,” she says. “He doesn’t need this.”

“I know. So why don’t you help us, now.”

Mikasa raises her eyebrows but wordlessly follows Erwin out of the room. Levi catches his eyes as Erwin passes, and Erwin knows that Levi will take of Eren, that he’ll get him out of the hospital—or at least clear a path for Hanji and Petra. He has to trust that Hanji has a plan, and that she’ll know when to let go of the thing with the Leonhardt girl. They don’t have a wide margin for error here. As if they ever did.

“So,” Mikasa says, once they’ve moved away from Eren’s room. “You want to know where Dr. Jaeger worked.”

Erwin waits for her to continue.

“I don’t actually know, he never told us. But it was close enough that he could walk, I remember that. It didn’t take him very long to get home—Eren had the flu once, and Dr. Jaeger had to come home from work to check on him, after Eren’s mother died.”

“Nothing else?”

“He wasn’t a great communicator, and pretty soon after that we moved to Trost and basically never saw him again.” Mikasa looks down for a moment and Erwin wonders if he should reach out to her. Then she looks up and meets his eyes, and Erwin can tell that she’s not hurting, she’s angry.

“I don’t know what exactly he did to Eren, or why, but I’m going to make him pay for it.”

“Good. Do you remember the Jaegers’ old address?”

;

Once she’s told him everything she remembers, Erwin sends Mikasa back to Eren’s room and goes to look for Hanji.

He finds her in a waiting room on the far side of the hospital, having apparently been kicked out of wherever they were keeping the Leonhardt girl.

“I tried,” Hanji says, “but it’s locked up tight. We need to get Eren out of here before they do the same thing to him. Between me and Petra it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Did you figure out what was wrong with her?”

Hanji gives him a sharp look. “Of course I did, I’m not useless. She’s—I’m not quite sure what the best way to explain it is, but it’s almost like she’s hibernating. After Mikasa attacked her, and don’t give me that look, I know it was in self-defense, she just started lowering her body temperature. I suppose to slow blood flow. She’s dipped below normal human levels but she must not be in any real danger, or there’d be more commotion around her. It has to be related to whatever mechanism is letting Eren heal so fast.”

“Different stages of the same experiment, or?”

“I’m not sure,” Hanji admits. “We’d have to look at other subjects, and the only one I can think of, and this is a hard maybe, is Braun. The Armored Wonder.”

“Levi did say his skin was unusually thick.”

“Exactly. So, if he was also subjected to whatever they’ve been doing, I’d say all three were actually different attempts at the same process.”

“Invulnerability?”

“Something like that. It would explain the military interest, especially since I’d bet there’s some related increase in strength. You saw them fight.”

“Yeah,” Erwin agrees. “So what do you think I should do?”

“Asking me for advice, really? You’ve already got a plan.”

“It’s still formulating. I need to talk to Niles before anything else.”

“Niles?”

“He owes me a favor.”

“It’s gonna take a lot more than a favor to deal with all of this.”

“The favor is just to get Mikasa off the hook. I’m hoping to appeal to his sense of justice for the rest of it.”

“Niles doesn’t have a sense of justice, you know that.”

“Hanji,” Erwin says with a warning tone.

“I don’t get what you see in him.”

“I don’t see anything in him. We’ve barely talked since we graduated.”

“You still talk about him occasionally.”

“You make it sound like we’re having some sort of torrid affair. He was my friend. I kept mostly to myself, so it was a big deal.”

Hanji rolls her eyes. “I’m not accusing you of anything, Smith, so calm down. I just want you to be careful before you rope the cops into this.”

Erwin considers arguing with her more, but they’re running out of time and she does have a point, even if he’s loathe to admit it. 

“I’ll take in under advisement. Good luck.”

“You too.”

Erwin doesn’t leave immediately. Instead, he traces his path back to Eren’s room, where Levi is waiting outside.

“So,” Erwin says, “I’m going to go clear things up with the cops.”

Levi narrows his eyes. “I’m not an idiot. You have something else planned.”

Erwin shrugs. “Hanji already warned me not to trust Niles.”

“I’m sure she did,” Levi says. “So I won’t repeat it. But do me a favor.”

“Of course.”

“Don’t bring up my name, okay. Don’t bring up any of the kids if you can help it. Jaeger and Ackerman will be in the report, and probably Arlert, but still.”

“Of course.”

“Stop saying that. Meet me back at my apartment when you’re done. We’ll have everyone out of here by then.”

“You don’t have a phone with you, do you?”

“Of course not,” Levi says, and rolls his eyes. “Just trust me, I’ll be there.”

“Of course,” Erwin says, and Levi punches him. It feels like a kiss. Erwin wants, too, to kiss him, but this isn’t the moment. He will wait, he decides. 

“I’ll see you at home, then,” he adds before he leaves, and pretends he doesn’t see Levi smile.

;

Niles is waiting for him at the back of the Starbucks, which is such a strange though that Erwin almost laughs. Niles is out of uniform, if he even wears one; Erwin hasn’t really talked to Niles since he started boxing. Niles had been appalled that Erwin had chosen to do something so meaningless with his life. He pushes that memory to the side because the last thing he needs right now is to be angry with Niles. He needs to work him, subtly, needs to remind him exactly how much he owes Erwin.

“It’s been a while,” Niles says when Erwin sits down. 

“It has,” Erwin agrees. “Law enforcement seems to be treating you well.” It has; Niles looks surprisingly fit and well-rested for someone with a job as presumably stressful as his.

“Better than getting the shit beat out of me on the regular.”

“You realize I won most of the time, right?”

Niles levels him with a long, unimpressed look. “I’m not getting into this with you again. Just tell ym why you’re here.”

“You could at least pretend to be happy to see me.”

“I would be, if I didn’t think you were bringing trouble with you.”

Erwin laughs and shrugs. Niles isn’t wrong. “I just want you to help out a girl who got stuck in a bad situation.”

“Wrong answer,” Niles tells him, making an angry buzzer noise. “I knew I’d heard her name before. And the other girl—the one in the hospital now. You’re lucky you got out in front of this so fast, because they are definitely going to press charges, and they can  
find people who will wreck the self-defense argument. You know it isn’t a strong one anyway, right? Her use of force was excessive.”

Erwin doesn’t dignify that with a response. Niles rolls his eyes.

“Anyway, I can help you with this, but you’re going to have to return the favor.”

“We already established that you owe me.”

“Not this much. Look, to fudge the report to get your girl in the clear I’m either going to lose my job, or have some poor innocent rookie take the fall for me.”

“What if I told you it wouldn’t be a problem for much longer?”

Niles, who is normally relaxed to the point of rudeness, sits up like he’s just been shocked. “Don’t, Erwin.”

“So you know who we’re dealing with, here.”

“Who you’re dealing with, actually.”

“Don’t pretend like this isn’t a bigger problem, too, if they’ve got people on the police payroll. Unless—“ Erwin stops suddenly. He remembers Levi warning him not to let too much slip, not to trust Niles after so long apart. What if he had been right? Niles was never an evil person, but he knew how to take advantage of an opportunity, and the Titans offered plenty of those.

Niles may have a gun, but he probably wouldn’t want to make a scene in a place like this. Erwin is—probably, he always was—faster and stronger, so if Niles gives him even a second, he should be able to get away. 

“Hey!” Niles says suddenly, snapping his fingers in front of Erwin’s face. “Do you really think I’m that big a scumbag?”

Oh. “No,” Erwin says, hoping he sounds sincere. “Of course not.”

Niles narrows his eyes but clearly doesn’t see this as something worth fighting for. 

“I don’t like this,” he tells Erwin, and Erwin knows he’s won.

;

Levi looks like he’s been hit by a train by the time Erwin makes it back. Makes it home, if he’s being honest. When he sees Erwin the corners of his mouth lift imperceptibly and he moves out of the doorway.

“So, what did your cop friend have to say?” Levi asks, slumping down onto the couch.

“He’ll help us. More than you’d expect, actually. How did things go with Eren?”

“He’s back home with Mikasa.”

“Not at a safehouse?”

Levi rolls his eyes. “Wouldn’t really help, in the long run. Besides, it’s not like he’s still hurt.”

“True.”

They settle then into a deep and comforting silence. Erwin follows Levi into the bedroom, lie down with their clothes still on. Levi’s head rests on Erwin’s chest and Erwin pulls him close. They fall asleep like that, eventually, listening to the sounds of their own breathing. The calm before.

**Author's Note:**

> the quote Erwin is thinking of comes from Prometheus
> 
> this got way out of hand! come scream with me about these old yaois @ weird-tint.tumblr.com


End file.
